Sites for AR15

[Diz]

Any suggestions for a good site system for AR15? Is EOtech about the only good system out there? I bought two others, returned one for money back, probably use the other for a fishing weight since I bought it on line.

[sumyungai]

AR15.com is a good site for technical information but can get a little nuts in GD.

[Carry-a-Kimber]

What is the intended use for the rifle?

[Diz]

Inteneded use: range and ranch, no high end hunting.

[Carry-a-Kimber]

Check out the Nikon M-223 line; they come in several magnifications and are designed for AR-15s.
Nikon M-223

[Longshot38]

Plenty of good options exist. It is matter of what you wanting to do with it. Vortex, SWFA, S&B, and Leupold all offer low magnification type scopes that work well (things like 1-4x24s and what not). As for reflex and red dot stuff EOTech, Aimpoint, Vortex, and Zeiss all offer good products. But without knowing specifics about your intended use helping you find an appropriate solution is not easy,

[The Annoyed Man]

Plenty of good options exist. It is matter of what you wanting to do with it. Vortex, SWFA, S&B, and Leupold all offer low magnification type scopes that work well (things like 1-4x24s and what not). As for reflex and red dot stuff EOTech, Aimpoint, Vortex, and Zeiss all offer good products. But without knowing specifics about your intended use helping you find an appropriate solution is not easy,

The M1A I just sold had a 10x42HD fixed power SWFA scope on it, and I was VERY impressed with its quality relative to price. The SWFA house brand is called "Super Sniper." In years past, they were made by Tasco, and their quality left something to be desired. But when SWFA took over production of the line, it went way up, and their more current offerings are very good quality indeed, particularly if you check out the HD glass models. They are not particularly aimed at the AR15 market specifically, but they are good, solid, and very rugged scopes that are applicable across most platforms. They are all rated to stand up to .50 BMG recoil.

There is another choice out there that is intriguing to me personally—the Burris AR-332 prism sight—that may be a good choice for your intended use of "range and ranch, no high end hunting." My son built a carbine for his boss using that particular optic on it. His boss used it to take a pretty good sized hog on his deer lease just 2 or 3 weeks ago for its "baptism of fire." Here is a picture of the hog, with the carbine and its mounted optic:

Click to View (Link contains photo of hog killed). (By the way, that hog was taken with two 55 grain FMJs.)

Here is the Burris page on that optic: http://burrisoptics.com/ar332.html

And here is the Cabelas page showing the "street" price of $349.99: Link to Impossibly Long URL

This particular sight is full-time 3X, with an illuminated 2 color (red & green) bullet drop compensating reticle. The reticle is etched, so even if your batteries go down, you still have a working sight with a black reticle.

I have an EOTec sight with an EOTec 3X magnifier behind it on a flip to side mount. I very much like the EOTec's holographic display, which makes for truly heads up, eyes open, shooting. It is a system that works really really well. The problem for me is that my eyes are deteriorating more rapidly now as I get older, and I can't really see a target that well without magnification any longer. The combined weight of the sight and its magnifier is a lot to carry when I almost never shoot without the magnifier. So for me, it is beginning to make sense to have a permanent 3X sight. My wife's eyes are much better than mine, so I may replace the inexpensive Vortex Strikefire that is on her carbine with my EOTec, and get me one of these AR-332's for mine. I've handled and looked through the Burris mounted on my son's boss's carbine, and it does present a pretty decent sight picture.

The only difficulty with the Burris optic is that you can't deploy a rear iron sight with the scope mounted because it has 2.5" eye relief distance with prevents forward mounting. As you can see from the above picture of the hog, my son mounted a pair of Magpul BUIS on that particular carbine, so it does fit, but you just can raise the rear sight without removing the optic. Fortunately, Burris also sells a QD mount for it which allows you to quickly remove it so that you can deploy your BUIS if necessay, and which will allow you to remount the optic without losing your zero.

In the same vein, Burris also is releasing the AR-536 sometime in the near future, which is the same basic sight, but at 5X instead of 3X. The price for that one will be around $399 or so. Either way, at 3X or 5X, you have a not too heavy optic with a bullet drop compensating reticle calibrated for the .223/5.56 cartridge (it can also be used for .308/7.62) which can be detached and remounted without losing zero, and at a price which is MUCH lower than the combined price of an EOTec with a magnifier.

There are a lot of pretty good optics out there for AR15s, but a lot of them are also very expensive. I would not steer you away from any of them, but if you're looking for a good general purpose optic at a reasonable price, the Burris is certainly on that I would give a lot of consideration to. You just have to be aware that it is NOT a holographic display. Consequently, it has an eye relief, and just like any traditional scope, if you are not in the "sweet spot" lined up perfectly, your reticle point of aim will shift off of your point of impact. As long as you treat it like a scope, and not a combat optic, you'll never have a problem.

No, I don't work for Burris. I just learned about this one while researching for my own needs and thought I would share what I found.

Edited to add: If you are concerned about CQB and want a holographic sight, you can mount a Burris FastFire on top of the AR-332 on the provided rail: Link to Cabela's Page. This sight goes for $209.99. So, for $350 for the magnified optic plus $210 for the holographic site added on, you get the same benefits as the EOTech + 3X magnifier, but for a total of $560 instead of the $900 or so the EOTech combination is going to set you back.

Food for thought.

[Diz]

Thanks for the info..

[gigag04]

Leupold and Nightforce. Depending on how many zeroes you like on a price tag.